The DDLA Episode 2: DigiWorld 2004
by Jlgjt
Summary: Second episode in the series. Rated T for depiction of extensive food decomposition, "deathtraps" and fighting. Chapter 4 up!
1. Center of Evil

**JLGJT Productions Presents...**

**DDLA Episode 2: "Digiworld 2004"!**

**Part 1: Center of Evil!**

Author's Note: This takes place after the Michi e no Armor Shinka CD drama (which was supposed to have happened the previous day, Valentine's Day) which means that Ken can now Armor Digivolve Wormmon to Pucchiemon and his Crest has become the DigiEgg of Kindness. Some dialog in this part is based on events from the CD Drama, so you may want to read it /archive/index.php/t-79760.html before reading this, all right? :)

Date: February 15, 2004

Time: 1:00 pm

Place: En route to Oikawa's apartment...

A two-car convoy was slowly traveling down the busy Odaiba streets toward an uncertain destination. The first car contained Cody and his family as well as Armadillomon while the second van was driven by Ken's dad and while Ken and Wormmon sat in the front seat. Behind sat Tai, Matt, Izzy, T.K., Kari and Davis with Digimon partners in tow, leading to a very cramped ride and short tempers.

Though everyone else was trying to make the best of it, Davis, in the back row, refused to do anything but sulk. Yesterday, Valentine's Day, had been both bad and bizarre to him, and he refused to come out of his bad mood. Veemon, uncomfortably squished down between Davis's legs so that it would be less likely he would be seen, had given up trying to cheer Davis up and just winced as he heard Davis begin to mutter under his breath again.

"Huh? You say something, Davis?" asked Kari, sitting on the seat beside Davis. Gatomon, perched on Kari's feet, looked up at Davis as well.

"I was saying," Davis replied, his peevishness clear to see, "that if you had given me some homemade chocolates, or even the obligation chocolates, none of yesterday would've happened!" (Obligation chocolate, or girl-choco, is a social obligation for girls to give on Valentine's Day in Japan. If a girl likes a guy very much, she gives homemade chocolate instead of store-bought chocolate.)

"Davis, you're being unreasonable." Kari countered. "How was any of us supposed to know Boltmon and Pukumon decided to show up at that particular day?"

"If you had been home making chocolates instead of shopping with Sora and Mimi, you wouldn't have gotten caught with them!"

"Davis, this was the first time Mimi had been here since the year began. Cut her some slack!" Matt warned.

Davis turned to face Matt, who was in the seat in front of him. "Well, you weren't helping either!" he indignantly yelled out. "No one was helping me. You tossed me out because you thought I couldn't sing, Izzy said I was hurting his computer and Ken had the bright idea to dress up like the Emperor again!** Is helping me get a girl too much to ask of the team?!**"

At this point, the van erupted with noise as Matt, Izzy and Ken assaulted Davis with counterattacks while Tai, T.K., Kari and the Digimon just tried to keep out of things. The intensity of the argument did not take long before it had an effect on the driver, causing Ken's dad to pull the car over and give the occupants a good berating to "keep the dang volume down!" Meanwhile, the car with Cody's family in it had pulled over as well and Cody had already ran over to see what was the matter, Armadillomon closely behind.

Cody looked at Ken's dad through the window as he pointed angrily toward the back seat. Cody slowly traveled back to see the other occupants laughing at Davis, who was trying to make himself invisible by sliding under the seat but without crushing Veemon in the process, something that was not working for him. Cody giggled and went back to the car.

"What's wrong back there?" his mom asked as he and Armadillomon got back in the car.

"Oh, Davis just blew his top again. It's fine now, nothing to worry about." Cody replied, trying to sound casual but with his grin betraying him. He and Armadillomon tried to suppress snickers, but without success.

"Oh, OK then. We'd better get going." his mom replied with a chuckle, putting the car into gear and looking for the next opportunity to enter the traffic flow...

* * *

As the two cars pulled up to the destination apartment building, the occupants noted with concern what was already there: a police car parked next to what looked like a pest control van. Near the van, a policeman was talking with two other men, one wearing glasses and dressed in a suit and tie, the other in a dark green jumpsuit and wearing something on his back. The policeman noticed them and directed them to park in spots nearby that had already been reserved for them by the policeman's partner.

"What do you think's going on in there?" Kari asked no one in particular as she saw the car with Cody and his family park beside the small group of men. The van parked in the adjacent empty slot, and the occupants quickly began unloading, glad to be getting out of the cramped vehicle. Ken and Kari in particular noticed the sign at the head of the spot, which read "Reserved for the Vehicle of: Yukio Oikawa". It seemed macabrely appropriate that they were assigned to that spot.

Ken tried to shove the flashback images out of his mind as he went over to where the rest of the group had converged on the three men talking to each other. His dad introduced him in turn to each of the men: the policeman who had been dispatched to supervise the operation concerning Oikawa's apartment, the man in suit and tie who owned the apartment building, and the man in the jumpsuit dispatched from a pest control company by the owner.

"We've been getting a number of complaints from those living near Oikawa's apartment of a terrible smell coming from it." the owner began to explain to the group as he studied the Digimon with a puzzled expression. His explanation began to trail off as he continued his studying: "Because it was known that he alternated between here and on Mt. Fuji, it was just dismissed... as coming from some food that had spoiled and that he would come back to clean it up. But... after the Mt. Fuji residence was found ablaze and a Missing Person report filed by his boss, the police put the place under lockdown... but now the smell has gotten to the point where something needs to be done..."

"You seem to be the only ones that have answers, so it is to you we are going." the policeman took over for him. Judging from his face, it seemed he had heard of the Digidestined's story before, and now wasn't quite sure whether to believe what his eyes were seeing or not.

"Because of the smell, we have been forced to break our missing person lockdown on their possessions that would normally prevent the legal heirs from taking anything if a person has been declared MPD, missing and presumed dead, until solid evidence of death is presented or the missing person is found alive." the policeman continued. "A pest control company has been hired to find and get rid of whatever is causing the smell. After that is done, we need the legal heirs to tag whatever they want to take for themselves so that it can be treated separately from the rest of the room. It is likely anything left will be damaged or rendered unusable by the strong chemicals they need to destroy any pests in the room, but anything taken out only needs to be disinfected and descented, which may allow it to survive in good condition. You understand this?"

Cody's mom and grandpa (who were the legal heirs) nodded, and then the policeman referred them to the pest control man, who began his part of the explanation: "OK, now I am legally obligated to review some procedures before we go in. First off, everyone is required to where some kind of breathing protection and gloves, both because of the smell and because the chemicals we are using give off fumes which are poisonous if inhaled directly or touched. This includes, uh..." (here he groped for a word to describe the Digimon; like the other two men, he didn't quite know what to make of them) "... your pets, or whatever they are. Secondly, once the smell source is removed, use the red tags we will provide to indicate which items you want to be removed. We will go through the apartment room-by-room, removing things as indicated. Once everything you want has been removed, the room will be sealed off and treated."

"While that is happening, someone else from the same company will disinfect the removed items outside, in the open air." the policeman added. "The job of me and my partner is to make sure everything is accounted for at the end of the day."

The pest control man looked around for a second, then said, "All right, if there are no questions we will get started. You can pick up the masks from the truck, then follow us to the location."

* * *

It sounded simple enough at first, but things quickly got complicated. The gas masks either didn't fit or wouldn't stay on some of the Digimon, so after several frustrated and uncomfortable attempts at taping the masks in place they were finally forced to Plan B: Agumon, Gabumon and Patamon forced to have filter paper taped over their mouths, hampering their breathing and effectively preventing Agumon and Gabumon from speaking (lest they tear their filter paper). Similar improvisations using pieces of protective gloves cut to fit were applied to the Digimon as well, adding to the ridiculous look they had already.

Finally, after much wrangling and a few headaches, the entire group set out into the apartment building, a bizarre parade even by Digidestined standards, drawing more than a few stares and amused laughs. They took the stairs up instead of the elevator so as to reduce the number of eyes staring at them. Nevertheless, a lot of faces were red when they got to the room, from embarrassment but not from exertion (the room was only a few floors up, so they didn't have to climb many stairs).

As the approached the room, they noticed the many air freshers and fans positioned near the door. "This was just a temporary solution to try to reduce the smell. As you might have guessed, it has not been particularly effective." the apartment owner explained through his mask.

Ken ran up to the door and pulled off the piece of paper taped to it. Holding it up for the rest of the crowd to see, the paper had various warnings (including ones of the apartment being possible crime scene and biohazard sites) and one all-capitals statement that "no one shall enter this site under any circumstances without written approval of the police, under penalty of trespassing and reckless endangerment!"

"That was mostly written up to keep out snoops who would mess up potential evidence of a crime out of the room. Now the smell does that job for us." the policeman sardonically explained. "We found a spare apartment key hidden in his section of the apartment storage room. We know that it works in unlocking the door, but we have kept it locked to further discourage intrusion. Now we need to know what is going on in there..."

He pulled out a key, attached to a keyring with a "Yukio Oikawa" ID tag, and put it into the front door lock. He turned the key to unlock the door, removed and returned the key to the place he got it out from. He briefly looked around before grabbing hold of the handle and turning it, slowly pushing the door open to reveal...

* * *

The wave of stench was immediate and powerful, even through the protective filtering. Without protection, the smell probably would have knocked out most of those exposed. Peering into the apartment, the reason for the stench was not long in being recognized: food, and a fair amount of it, had been left out on tables in the living room and kitchen, which over the course of two months had begun to decay and attract various critters. The net result was that the apartment had been overrun with various pests, and that most surfaces in the apartment (including the floor) were now too unsanitary to be safely touched with bare hands.

The group quickly pulled back, and the pest control man pulled out his two-way radio, using it to bring up his partner and also some plastic sheeting. "What happened in there? Why did Oikawa leave food out like that?" Kari asked no one in particular.

"I don't know, but I don't think it was an accident." Izzy answered. He would be proven right when, after plastic sheeting had been laid down on the floor to make it clean enough to walk on, the pest control men began removing the decaying food and giving the room a preliminary disinfecting to make stuff clean enough to touch.

The men had finished spraying the living room and were going over the kitchen when one of them noticed familiar looking containers in the trash bin. "Rat poison containers in the trash. Lots of them.", was the terse report to the policeman and the Digidestined group.

"Are you sure?" the policeman asked.

"Positive. We use the same stuff on some of our calls. It's definitely poison."

"Could the food have been poisoned with it?"

"Maybe, the stuff's too decayed now to tell for sure. We haven't found anything yet besides bugs and mice, so we don't know for sure what the poison has been used on. Once we go over the other rooms, the apartment should be safe enough for the others to enter."

"Will your spray affect computers if you spray them?" T.K. quickly piped up.

"They shouldn't if the spray isn't direct. Besides, we make it a policy to minimize collateral damage to property." The Digidestined breathed a collective sigh of relief at hearing this.

Shortly afterward, the Digidestined group huddled down the hallway while the pest control men brought up more plastic sheeting and chemical sprays. "Any theories, suggestions?" Tai quietly asked. They saw further down the hallway the building owner trying to shoo onlookers away, holding up a warning sign that told people that chemicals were being sprayed and that they shouldn't stick around unless they had some kind of breathing protection. This scattered the crowd but made the already ridiculous situation even more so.

Izzy sighed and rolled his eyes with the rest of the group before giving out his theory: "This may have been Oikawa's Plan B if his attempt to open a gate to the Digital World had failed completely on New Years Eve. He would have used Arukenimon and Mummymon to lure us here, then take at least the Digimon out with the poisoned food. He knew that our Digimon wouldn't be able to resist the treats he had left out, and he intended to use that against us."

"How can you be so sure, Izzy? I mean, could you even tell what the food had been?" Matt asked.

"Some of the stuff I recognized as treats like the ones sold in Yolei's store, the ones we used to smuggle to the Digimon in the computer lab. And some of the food wasn't human food, but cat food."

"How does that make a difference?"

"Well, I think that like what happened with the Dark Spores, Oikawa's behaviors and attitudes were altered by Myotismon's control of him. By possessing him, Myotismon would have imparted to Oikawa more than just a desire to get into the Digital World."

"You mean, things like what he likes and hates, what he would prefer to do given a choice, things like that?"

"Well, not just that, but also in memories as well. Oikawa may have Myotismon's memories as well as his attitudes. He didn't got antisocial or become like Myotismon in every way, otherwise we probably would have heard of him earlier, but I would guess the effect would be enough that some things would be recognized if we found them." Izzy concluded.

"Like in hating cats because of Gatomon?"

"Exactly. Gatomon would have been a specific target, hence the poisoned cat food."

"All right, Izzy; care to comment on that, Gatomon?" Matt asked the feline Digimon. She just shrugged, probably because she felt silly wearing a gas mask that was almost too big for her and/or the fact that she didn't want to talk about the subject.

The awkward silence that followed was broken moments later by what sounded like a loud pounding coming from the room. The huddle quickly broke and the building owner met them at the door. Looking in, it was quickly determined that the pounding was as a result of trying to open one of the doors.

"You have the key? I think the door's locked!" the pest control guy was heard saying. The policeman, next to him in the room, began talking to himself as he fumbled for the key. He produced it and tried it in the lock, but to no effect.

The policeman sighed and scratched his head before peaking around the corner of the short hallway he stood in and noticed the group by the door. "One of the doors has been locked, and the main door key doesn't work." he explained to them.

"That's weird. The key should open any door in the room." the building owner said to himself.

"Could any locks have been changed in the room without you knowing?" Ken asked him.

"Maybe. I'm just an absentee owner; I'd have to get the building manager, as he'd be the one with those kind of records."

"Could you do that please?" the policeman asked the owner, to which the latter nodded and went down the hallway toward the elevator.

After the owner was gone, the policeman fished out from his belt a lockpick and said, "All right, let's see what we can do while the owner is getting that information." As he began to work, the group of Digidestined slowly began to file into the room, always making sure to step on the plastic sheeting.

Much of the room was obviously dusty and dirty with the product of 2 months unchecked infestation. Many objects, mostly the furniture, had been already been black tagged, the tag "Must be destroyed due to overwhelming infestation." Cody's mom and grandpa ruefully began to red tag a few electronic items and knick-knacks that hadn't been too badly damaged while Cody himself began to study a collection of videos that had been stored in a nearby cabinet. The cabinet itself was black tagged, but the videos stored inside were still in relatively good condition.

Most of the video cassettes were horror movies, and Cody recognized several titles. He carefully reached in (the filth of the room in general was combining with memories of Oikawa to make him very nervous) and pulled out one title, a vampire movie judging from the cover art.

"What you got there, Cody?" Armadillomon, who was beside Cody, asked him.

"I think it's a vampire movie." he ruefully replied.

"Golly, I don't understand why people why would want to watch things as scary as Myotismon was."

"Well, people usually do it because they like the scare it provides, but I think in this case Oikawa did it for some kind of satisfaction for Myotismon." Cody replied as he opened the case. Inside was a videotape, only partway rewound, and a small slip of paper that read "Play at 1:00:00". This mystified him, but it also made him determined to keep it. Once he showed it and the paper slip to his grandpa, the video was quickly red tagged to preserve it for future analysis.

The group was now split into three parts: Ken, Izzy, Tai and Davis with their Digimon watching the policeman work, Cody with his family and Armadillomon tagging things, and the rest (Matt, T.K., Kari, Gabumon, Patamon and Gatomon) in the kitchen, waiting for the computers to be found.

Bored and on edge, the group in the kitchen began looking around in drawers and cabinets, trying to determine which dishes were clean enough to be taken and sanitized for later reuse. Matt, trying to relieve tension, attempted small talk: "Uh... well, I feel bad that the memorial got destroyed. We all worked so hard on that thing, and one stray grenade undid everything."

"I remember that your dad said it was 'a total loss'. And now we can't even get up there to remove the ashes or start rebuilding." Kari replied, giving him a critical look.

"I know you can't, but Ken and Dad just might. The dome itself is stable, and most of the windows have already been replaced, so once they reopen the access route up there it should be OK."

"Yeah, but every day that goes by worries me more and more. I mean, this is **Wizardmon** we are talking about here."

"That's a good point, and Dad has mentioned that at random times and areas in the building a voice unexplained by other means is heard."

Kari and Gatomon were instantly riveted to Matt. "You think it's Wizardmon?" Kari asked.

"T.K. and I think so, and so does Dad, but no one else believes him. And we can't be sure ourselves because only Dad has heard the voice."

"Did he hear what it said?"

"No, just something like gibberish. If something is trying to be said, it's not coming through. And because most of the electrical systems are off or not working, we can't know if the 'shadow' is happening again."

Kari looked at him with confusion, but Gatomon piped up with "Let me look around. Maybe something will happen when I'm around that won't otherwise."

Matt looked down at the feline with pain in his eyes. He empathized with her desire, but knew that it couldn't be fulfilled quickly. "I'm sorry, but the building is off limits for at least another 2 weeks, and even then I don't know what would happen with you around..."

* * *

Matt was interrupted by a sudden sound of a muffled "poof", followed by yelling and the policeman racing to the apartment's entry door and slamming it shut. The others in the apartment quickly looked down into the short hallway to see Ken and Izzy trying to avoid stepping in a blue powder that covered stripes on the floor by their feet. Judging from the pattern of the stripes, the powder had drifted from the opposite side of the door through the small cracks between the door itself and the frame as well as from under the door.

"What happened?" T.K. asked as the pest control man changed his sprayer for a vacuum and began sucking up the powder on the floor.

"The policeman had picked the lock and was about to open the door when something went 'poof' inside the room and blue powder began to drift through the cracks in the door." Ken explained, still looking a little shaken up by the surprise. "The policeman said it might be cyanide so he's not letting anyone near the door until it's been all vacuumed up. Even then, the apartment is going to have to be boarded up once everything that has been red-tagged is removed."

"That's right. The released cyanide has made this place even more hazardous than before." the policeman wearily replied as he returned from the main door. "Because there's no way to vent this place without endangering the other building occupants or the public in general, the only thing that can be done is seal this place off until we can get a decon crew to certify that there are no more poisons hidden somewhere. I'm sorry, but anything in this apartment that isn't red-tagged will have to be destroyed to prevent a public health hazard."

"And the apartment itself?" Cody's grandpa asked him.

"Stripped to the framing and rebuilt from scratch. Nothing can be saved, not even the wallboard. Someone will have to tell the owner about this right now." the policeman replied before pulling off his two-way radio and telling his partner down on the street to look for the building owner. All that filled the silence afterward was more waiting and more worrying; how many more deathtraps could have been laid for them, and what was behind the booby-trapped door?

As it turned out, the powder had spread over the majority of the back surface of the door and an area of the carpet inside near the door, but did not travel far from the burst-open tin that it had been stored in because of it being a heavy power. This meant most of the things in the room had escaped contamination and might be salvageable later.

Peaking into the room, the Digidestined saw glimpses of what seemed to be some kind of control center, with several computers lined up in a row on one wall and a cot-like bed on the other. All the computers appeared to be on some kind of low-power mode, and the room had far fewer pests, apparently due to the dusty but otherwise relatively clean condition the room had been left in.

The pest control man eventually cleared them to enter what appeared to be Oikawa's bedroom, putting down more plastic sheets on the floor and warning not to touch anything that had blue powder on it. Ken, Izzy, Tai and Davis entered the bedroom with their Digimon while the others stayed behind to help Cody's family salvage items from the other rooms (the living room, kitchen and bathroom).

Immediately upon entering the room, they had the feel they had entered a command center suddenly and inexplicably abandoned. Three computers were lined up in a row along the back wall and a convertible couch that had been folded down to act as a bed was opposite the door. Next to the computers was a large rack filled with thick books, the topics varying from genetics to anatomy to programming languages.

"Oikawa's reference library." Izzy concluded as he looked the books over, marking the books with the red tags he had been allowed to use. "We can use these to help in research and other things."

The others in the room barely heard him as they were studying the computers in front of them. Each computer monitor had different colors and numbers of stickers attached to it: the leftmost one had four stickers (one on each side of the monitor frame), the middle one had two stickers on the top of the frame of its monitor, and the rightmost one had a single black sticker on the top of the frame of the monitor belonging to that one.

Each person took a computer, Izzy on the leftmost one, Tai on the middle one and Davis on the rightmost one. All the computers were restored from their standby mode through mouse movement and, just as had been suspected, the three computers did indeed all have separate but coordinated functions.

All three computers were physically linked together in a network, and small windows in the top corners of the screen showed a status summary of the other two computers. None of the computers showed a typical desktop screen, but instead varying displays covering most of the screen. The left computer showed a map divided into four sections based on the compass points, each section having a colored overlay; the eastern section had its blue overlay flashing while the others had overlays that were constant. The middle computer showed two status bars in the middle of a black screen, both bars flashing with "TERMINATED" written over each one. The right computer showed the same map as the left one, but in black and white outlines with a black grid imposed over the map; the top middle of the screen showed a white square " 100" and, below it, a black square " 0".

Davis immediately noticed the similarity between the display on the right screen and the monitor screens that had been used to show how much area Ken had controlled as the Digimon Emperor, and it was agreed that this was Oikawa's equivalent of that program, his way of monitoring the success (or lack thereof) of the initial scheme. Tai guessed that the middle computer probably had been Oikawa's way of tracking Arukenimon and Mummymon, who the two status bars had represented. But it was the left screen that drew the most attention.

Noting the colored divisions of the map on that monitor, Izzy formulated his theory as he cautiously tried the mouse and various keys to see what happened while hoping he didn't mess things up: "The colored divisions... correspond to the divisions that the Harmonious Ones control... The flashing blue division is Azulongmon's territory, and we know he escaped his prison... BlackWarGreymon's destruction of the Destiny Stones must have weakened control enough that we could break him free from the program's control... which is why the blue region is flashing. This must show the status of the prison program holding them captive... and if I can get a help menu or something like that, maybe I can shut this thing off..."

Izzy passed Tai two red markers, and Tai used them to mark both the center and rightmost computers while Izzy grabbed another one and stuck it on the computer he was working on. Izzy quickly called Ken over and between the two of them slowly began to figure out the program's operations and functions.

After several nerve-racking minutes of trial and error, with the prospect of messing things up irreparably always a worry, the two finally figured out how to bring up the screen that disabled all the divisions. Izzy clicked the "disable all" button, but was hit with a enter password dialog box. He first tried "Oikawa", then "Guardians", neither of which worked. Ken, on a hunch, then tried "Myotismon" as the password.

The box disappeared, the entire screen flashed once, and then the colored overlays slowly faded away, leaving only the map. The other computers went black, then began to reboot. "Did we do it? Did we free the other Harmonious Ones?" Ken asked Izzy.

"I don't know." Izzy cautiously replied. "But what I do know is that I want to see how all this works together. Keep an eye on these computers while I get my laptop from outside; I want to get as much data off of these things before they have to be disconnected and taken away..."

* * *

_Meanwhile, somewhere in the Digital World..._

There was a sudden pause, something grabbing his attention. It was voices, the voices of his partners that he had not heard in so long. This could only mean one thing in his mind: the program that had held them prisoner had been deactivated, and now it would not take much to free them! He immediately summoned someone who had been a friend of the Digidestined, someone they would recognize if they met.

"Yes, what is it you desire of me?" the summoned Digimon replied.

"Contact the Digidestined and bring them to the Digital World. The day when the Crests shall be returned to them is not far off now that I can hear the cries of my counterparts in their prisons. Tell the Digidestined was has happened and their fondest wish may one day soon be granted."

"As you wish, O Sovereign One!"

* * *

_Elsewhere in the Digital World..._

Another sudden pause, but this one provoking anxiety rather than hope. "What was that?" the assistant said to his leader, both staking out at a certain spot

"Oh, nothing to bother about. Now stay focused! That little pink thing is pesky enough without being able to pull a disappearing act!" the leader replied.

Nearby but unseen, the "little pink thing" had also paused for a moment. "Something has happened, something important! I must go find Gennai and see what has happened, yep yep!" he said.

A hole appeared in the arid sky, leading into what seemed like a rich jungle with huge flowers growing out of the ground. Out of the hole emerged the "little pink thing", right in front of those stalking him!

"Aha! I've got you at last, my little pink pest!" the lead stalker declared.

"What what? Now see here, you are being most rude and improper!"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous! I cannot have you going around throwing your magic bombs into my works. Which is why I need you to come with me, **right now!**"

"I'm not going anywhere with you, nope nope!"

"Oh contraire, my little pink pest!" the lead stalker said, holding up a green crystal in his right hand. The crystal was a bright emerald green and seemed to glow from within. The pink Digimon instantly collapsed on the ground, allowing the assistant to pick him up without resistance.

The assistant was handed the crystal and ordered to take the Digimon to "the Holding Tower" to be imprisoned with the others. As the assistant began to do so, the leader said to himself. "That was the last one against me out here. Now all I need is to get that troublesome caretaker out of the way and I will have all the data I need to execute my plan!"

**What exactly will happen in the Digital World now? And what is both the plan and identity of the mysterious ne'er-do-well and his assistant? Find out in Part 2, "DigiWorld Return!"**


	2. Digiworld Return

**DDLA Episode 2: "Digiworld 2004"!**

**Part 2: DigiWorld Return**

Date: February 15, 2004

Time: 5:00 pm

Place: Kido apartment, Joe's bedroom...

"Hold it, hold it... right there... perfect!" Jim Kido said as he clicked off another picture on his digital camera. "All right, that's all I need. Next!"

After dealing with Oikawa's apartment, most of the Digidestined present there (save Cody and Armadillomon) had to hurry to make another appointment: picture taking with Joe's brother Jim. The pictures were to be used to decorate posters advertising both the new Digimon Club Jim was forming at the Odaiba branch of Tokyo University and the lectures on Digimon Sora's dad was going to give.

"There's been a lot of interest in the monsters over there, not the least of which being that they don't seem to be like any creatures known. I've gotten a surprising amount of attraction whenever I asked about the club, so I figure it's worth trying to at least get the word out." Jim had explained when he first asked to do the photo shoot. "Problem is, I need cool, I need cute, I need friendly. Which means pictures on posters. **Lots **of them."

Though it seemed a little imposing, the Digidestined reluctantly accepted Jim's invitation. It had been intended to be done in the afternoon, but the sudden opening of Oikawa's apartment forced a delay. As it turned out, the delay was actually needed because of Gomamon's persistence in trying to get into the camera shots. This naturally exasperated both Jim and Joe, and finally Joe was forced to shove Gomamon under a coat and "go for a walk with him" just to get him out of the way.

Once Gomamon was finally gone, Jim could sit down and begin taking pictures of the Digimon he actually wanted to take. He had started with pictures of Patamon and Gatomon, making them first so that Jim was sure he wouldn't come up short with shots of them, as he intended them to be prominently displayed on the posters. "After all, they do make excellent poster Digimon." Jim plainly stated as his reasoning.

There was no need to explain anything, though, as Gatomon hopped down from the photography stand she had been on top of and Agumon eagerly rushed up to the block to take her place. Despite the relative length of her session, there was not much grumbling among those waiting because the session had improved her general mood, something that shouldn't be compromised.

Kari scooped up Gatomon as Tai followed Agumon over to the improvised photo booth. "You have fun?" Kari asked her partner, to which the response was an eager nod.

"That's good. Because there's going to be more where this is coming from." Jim mentioned as he adjusted his camera tripod. "This is just the start of a big thing down there. Besides the Ankokuwas, the Digimon Club Prof. Takenouchi and I are starting is the talk of the campus!"

"Ummm... exactly **how **big is this going to be?" Matt asked, clearly showing a nervousness that suddenly appeared concerning Jim's enthusiasm.

Jim looked over at Matt with an eager grin on his face and said "It's going to be quite big; I actually didn't plan on doing it until later in the semester, but since the interest is here now, we're striking while the iron is hot, you know what I'm sayin'? As soon as we can get these posters up, it'll be the start of even bigger things: presentations, meet and greet sessions, a show on campus, even eventually a kabuki play if we can get enough people involved!"

"Woah woah, hold up! Don't you think maybe you're going too fast on this?" T.K. objected. He was quickly joined by several others, who piped up with objections about how big the operation was.

"We've only got one shot at doing this, and we need to be big so that it will stick, otherwise it will be all undone by the next Digimon attack." Jim replied.

"Well, we're hoping that there isn't another Digimon attack in the real world, particularly anytime soon." Tai proclaimed.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, particularly considering the record with you guys." Jim cautiously replied, returning his attention to his camera...

* * *

The DigiDestined group members sighed, apparently seeing no point to further objecting to Jim; his mind was made up, and nothing was going to change it. An uneasy calm settled in the room as Jim began snapping pictures of Agumon.

To reduce the tension, Kari began small talk: "So, has Noriko told you yet?" she asked Matt.

"About what?" Matt replied.

"Well, we're having trouble figuring out how to format and write material for the 'Digimon 101' classes being planned."

"Shouldn't that be done by the Digimon themselves?" Matt asked, only being half-serious.

"See, that's the problem. All we have so far is what we know from our adventures, and apparently some things just defy explanation. I doubt anyone who doesn't believe in Digimon already would take us seriously."

"It could be said that Digimon themselves defy explanation, but Izzy and Ken will solve the mystery one day." Matt replied, again only being half-serious.

"Matt, life is complex. It always has been, it always will be." Izzy indignantly stated as a response, which caused a couple chuckles in the group and an annoyed look from Ken toward Matt.

Matt pretended to ignore Izzy's statement and changed the subject: "Anyway, while were on the subject, Sora told me about Hiroshi. He's been going to the flower shop after school to hang out and try to draw some nice ads for the shop, Digimon-free of course. They technically can't hire him as an artist, as that would be against the law, but Sora says that Hiroshi might get paid commissions by her mom for ad work he draws up."

"Wow, that's good!" Kari replied. "Is he getting paid now?"

"No, they're doing a trial run of his artwork in the shop in right now. If enough people like his drawings, he'll start getting paid commissions and maybe he can get some money for those drawings. Problem is, schoolwork is taking up a lot of his time, so he doesn't have much opportunity to practice or do artwork except on weekends."

"Yeah, that is a problem. Well, I hope that works out."

"Me too. What about, uh, Keiko? How's she doing?"

"She hasn't contacted me much actually. She brought some cookies a couple days ago to us, but I think she just prefers cooking for her family. She comes to the meetings, but I'm not sure she's big on doing one-on-one work though. Let's just wait and see, because the cookies were pretty good."

"All right that's good."

Silence fell for a minute before Kari spoke again: "T.K., you haven't told me anything about Takashi recently."

"Well, until the weather warms up, there isn't much chance for him to practice. And we have the same problem as Hiroshi: schoolwork always in the way." T.K. replied.

"Yeah, I know the feeling..."

* * *

Before anything else could happen in the room, many of the D-Terminals owned by the kids started beeping, indicating they had received new messages. At this, just about everyone else in the room (except Jim, who was merely annoyed that Agumon had run off after the beeping) was drawn attention to those who had gotten the messages.

The message turned out to be an "all-points bulletin" (meaning it was addressed to all the Japanese Digidestined that had been established before the new year) from Gennai, stating to come quickly to the Digital World as he had important news to share with them.

"What do you think it means?" Tai asked as a small chatter of worry and disbelief broke out amongst the group.

"The more important question is how to get to the Digital World? All the DigiPorts we used to use route to the Highton View Terrace gate, and that's been closed off." T.K. pointed out.

"I don't know, but Gennai must have made a way, otherwise he wouldn't have asked us to come. Now who's going?" Ken stated.

"It looks urgent, but I don't know how many of us can get there right now, or even available to try getting there." Matt stated.

"The four of us in the DDLA will try. This looks too urgent to ignore it." Izzy stated. Most of the other Digidestined looked at him like he wasn't exactly being serious.

"You mean your 'detective agency' is for real?" Davis asked.

"Sure, I meant what I said, every word of it. The DDLA is one method of organizing the group and allowing for a quick response without having to coordinate a huge group."

The DDLA members (Izzy, Tentomon, T.K., Patamon, Kari, Gatomon, Ken and Wormmon) went over to Jim to ask him where to find a computer while the others just looked at each other and shrugged shoulders, figuring that if a way was found in, they would be called if needed.

Jim, trying not to look annoyed at the fact that he was wasting precious time while the others talked, mumbled something about a computer in Joe's room. Izzy thanked him, then lead the other members to the room.

The computer was sitting idle, the monitor glowing with a picture of Gomamon as the background. "Anyone want to try? I don't think my Digivice will work." Izzy offered.

"I'll try." T.K. replied as he held up his D-3 to the monitor. "Digi-Port open!"

To both surprised and relieved expressions, a Digi-Port appeared on the monitor screen. However, it looked slightly different from the familiar screen they used before: the display of the opening was now circular, initially showing a bright white barrier. The D-3 beeped, and the barrier opened to show part of the Digital World. The screen flashed, and then the DigiDestined near it began to be pulled in...

* * *

As they traveled through the portal, the dream world in which the MaloMyotismon fight took place was glimpsed, here and gone in an eyeblink, before the Digital World appeared. The group was unsympathetically tossed out onto the ground in front of a TV set which would act as the portal back to the real world.

"Ouch! We've got to remember to watch our landings!" T.K. stated as he rubbed his sore behind.

"My concern is whether we're actually in the Digital World or not." Izzy stated as he got up and began to look around.

"Of course you are, where else would you be?" came a voice from behind the group. The members all quickly turned their attention toward the voice and saw a figure coming over a ridge behind them... a very familiar figure for some of the group members.

"LEOMON!" T.K. exclaimed as soon as he recognized the Digimon, and instantly both him and Izzy were running to meet him, hugging and greeting him like the old friend he was while Ken and Kari watched from where they were, looking at each other and scratching their heads.

Quickly Leomon was half-dragged over to Kari and Ken by an excited T.K. "Kari and Ken." T.K. breathlessly stated as an introduction.

"I know." Leomon graciously replied before turning to Kari, offering a hand to shake. "I've heard a lot about both of them."

Kari took the offered hand, her cheeks glowing a bright pink. Ken looked at Leomon with a confusing sense of deja vu.

"Something wrong Ken?" Izzy asked when he noticed Ken's behavior.

"I don't know. I can't put my finger on it, but he seems familiar for some reason..." Ken replied, trailing off as a flashback from his days as the "Digimon Emperor" jumped into his mind:

"_Drat! He got away again! He's like those pesky brats, he always gets away from me!"he had said after another unsuccessful attempt at capturing a lion-like Digimon with a Dark Ring._

_"Yes, master. There are always fish in the sea that get away. Now maybe you should find something easier to catch, like some Numamon maybe?" Wormmon had tentatively offered._

_"Quiet! I happen to like a challenge, thank you very much! And don't you forget it!" the Emperor Ken angrily replied, pulling out his whip and cracking it near Wormmon to scare the Digimon into silence._

_"Yes, master."_

When he came out of the flashback, Ken felt a shiver go down his spine. He had come close to doing to Leomon what he had done to many other Digimon: controlling them through the Black Rings. Nevertheless it appeared Leomon had forgiven and forgotten, and Ken half-smirked as he too shook Leomon's hand.

"It is glad to see you all, but unfortunately something has come up while I was on my way here." Leomon firmly stated.

"What's up?" Kari asked.

"Gennai sent me to bring you all to his house to tell the news, but something bad has come up. The Primary Village has been threatened by intruders and some of you need to go there immediately to stop him."

"Intruders?" This seemed to be very bad news; had Oikawa's barrier already been compromised?

"Yes, though it doesn't appear to be either human or Digimon. They looks human, but they often seem to stop and listen for something, maybe directions from somewhere outside the Digital World. They could be manifestations of a dangerous program."

"How many of these intruders are there?" T.K. asked.

"Just two. One seems to be lead by the other, but both seem to need to listen for directions we can't find the source for. They've already captured most of the Digimon they've encountered, including many of your friends."

"What? How?"

"They seem to carry some kind of glowing green crystal that affects any attempt to attack them. I know this because I ran into them and when I attacked one of them held up the crystal. The attack was bounced back to me and nearly knocked me out. I only escaped because they had no intention about dragging me off. I've heard that they've used the crystal to weaken other Digimon, like how the Control Spires once worked; if exposed to it, they become too weak to fight back and are taken somewhere. I'm guessing that didn't happen to me because they only wanted to stop my attack."

"Would it have any affect on us?"

"We're not sure, that's part of the reason we summoned you. The other part is that Gennai requests Kari and Ken's presence, as he has someone waiting for them."

Kari and Ken looked at each other. The only thought of who it might be was Oikawa, but the only way to know for sure was to go and find out. They looked over at T.K. and Izzy, waiting for their response.

"It's all right. If we need help, we'll call to the real world and tell how to get there. You two can go to Gennai's and see what is going on there." Izzy stated.

"We're settled then. Kari and Ken will need to follow me to Gennai's. Primary Village is out that way." Leomon stated, pointing behind him as he spoke the last sentence.

"All right, Izzy and I'll get on it right away." T.K. stated, pulling out his D-3 as he did so.

"OK, but you must hurry. And be careful! We don't know how the crystal will affect your Digimon and the Digivices."

"Let's go! **DigiArmor Energize!**"

**1001011010011101**

**Patamon Armor Digivolve to...**

**Pegasusmon, Flying Hope!**

**1001010111011100**

**1010010111011010**

**Tentomon Digivolve to...**

**Kabuterimon!**

**11101110111011101**

T.K. and Izzy mounted their respective Digimon and flew off in the direction Leomon specified. After seeing them off, Leomon turned to Ken and Kari. "It will go faster if you can ride your Digimon so that I don't have to wait up for you."

"That's not a problem. Ken and Wormmon can ride with me on Nefertimon." Kari stated to Leomon before turning to her partner and asking if she was up to it. When Gatomon replied that she was, Kari pulled out her D-3. **"DigiArmor Energize!**"

**111011010010111**

**Gatomon Armor Digivolve to...**

**Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!**

**110101101011100**

Kari mounted Nefertimon, then helped Ken (who was holding Wormmon) up as well. Leomon pointed in the direction he wanted them to go, then took off running. Nefertimon quickly took to the air and followed Leomon toward Gennai's house, none certain of what was going to happen next...

**The DigiDestined have returned to the Digital World, but many questions still remain unanswered, and the intruder now threatens one of the most important sites in the Digital World: Primary Village! Be sure to stick around for Part 3, "Oikawa's Woe", to see questions answered and villains confronted! **


	3. Oikawa's Woe

**DDLA Episode 2: "Digiworld 2004"!**

**Part 3: Oikawa's Woe**

Date: February 15, 2004

Time: Approx. 5:30 pm

Place: The Digital World, nearing Gennai's house...

Leomon stopped near a lake, and Nefertimon descended to land beside him. As Kari dismounted, she was asked by Ken why they were at a lake with no houses in sight.

"I'm not sure, I think T.K. told me that Gennai's house was in a lake or something like that." she replied as she helped Ken dismount.

"Actually in the lake, underwater?" Ken replied with an incredulous stare.

"That's right." Leomon answered for Kari, managing to suppress a laugh. His grin made Ken flush for a moment and Kari chuckle.

"Let's see now... I think he said to step in the water somewhere..." Kari stated hesitatingly as she approached the lake. She peered down into the water, hoping to see some steps or some other means of entry, but got nothing. Sighing, she finally began wading into the lake.

As soon as she did, the water flashed and turned pink, startling everyone except Leomon and almost causing Kari to retreat out of the water. She felt a step under her feet, and then saw a stairway going down between two walls of pink-glowing water. Not wanting to stay in one place too long, she cautiously began descending the staircase, followed by the others...

* * *

As soon as everyone was inside the house, the staircase disappeared and the water returned to its original position, leaving the group inside the house completely surrounded by water.

"Wow, I wonder how the air is maintained in here." Ken asked as he looked around.

"I don't like this, too much water." Gatomon commented, looking a bit queasy (she had reverted before going down the staircase).

"Eventually you get used to it." Leomon stated.

"You've been down here before?" Kari asked in surprise.

"Yes, a lot of your friends here have been down here at one time or another."

It was only then that Ken and Kari noticed that the house didn't look exactly like a house, but more like a command center for something, with monitor screens placed along one wall and several chairs positioned in front of them. In the center of the room was a small table surrounded by tatami mats while doors at opposite ends of the room, one held open by a doorstop, lead to more rooms.

"I don't think T.K. described it this way though." Kari stated as she knitted her brows in confusion.

"Of course not, it's been a long time since he was here." a voice explained through the open doorway. The group turned toward the doorway and ran toward it; peaking through to the other room, they saw Gennai inside, looking at what appeared to be a black-colored Koromon.

"Ahh, yes, glad you finally arrived. There's a lot we need to catch up on." Gennai stated, smiling as he looked up at the group. "Please, find a seat by the table and make yourselves comfortable."

The group went over to the table and managed to arrange themselves around it, sitting on the mats, but couldn't help but look back at the black Koromon. Something about him looked familiar, but no one could place why that was. From what glimpses they saw of the Koromon, it appeared he had the same feeling about the situation.

Gennai, followed slowly by the black Koromon, joined the group at the table and sat down facing Kari and Ken. Kari had opened her mouth to ask about the Koromon, but Gennai cut her off by saying that he would explain it in a minute. The Koromon, on the table beside Gennai, looked back at them confusedly.

"Now I'm sure the first thing you've noticed is that the house looks different from what it may have been described as." Gennai started. "That is because after the Harmonious Ones were captured again, I converted this place to a safehouse, a place of refuge for Digimon hiding from the rising evil, hence all the monitors for security. Many Digimon that are friends of yours, including Leomon, took refuge here at one time or another. It never was found out because everyone who came here was forced to promise to keep it a secret."

"Even from us, the DigiDestined?" Kari asked.

"Sadly, yes. We didn't want you to know because we were afraid that if you did, you would lead evil Digimon to it. Not intentionally of course, but we didn't want to take the risk."

"And is the security system off now?" Ken stated.

"Well, being underwater is already an excellent security system." Gennai replied with a wry smile. "But yes it is. Though I have been considering reactivating it ever since that since Digimon have been attacked by the men with the green crystals."

"Yeah, what is up with those guys, anyways?" Gatomon asked.

"I think Leomon already told you that we're not sure exactly what he is, but it's reasonably certain that it didn't come from the real world."

"So Oikawa's barrier is still intact, right?" Ken stated.

"As far as known, yes. We would have been told by Oikawa by now if that barrier had been broken. We have to be careful though. The weak point near your Highton View Terrace, despite the gate being sealed by BlackWarGreymon, is still pretty fragile. For..."

"Wait, back up a minute. Oikawa can talk to you?"

"Sort of. A flock of butterflies sometimes comes here, and they condense down into an image of him that can talk. Actually, you'll see that a little later because Oikawa wanting to talk to you was one of the reasons you were called here."

Ken and Kari looked at each other, wondering what kind of message Oikawa had for them, then motioned Gennai to go on.

"Yes, as I was saying, the way in and out is a bit complicated, because you not only have to deal with the blocked gate, but two barriers to go through. That's why the Digiport looked different then the one you were used to using. Once the Crest barrier is dismantled, things will be simpler."

"We heard that would happen once the Harmonious Ones were all released. Can we do that now?" Ken asked, his hopeful tone of voice echoed in Kari and Gatomon's hopeful looks.

"Yes, that is for later as well. However, there is something else you need to know first." Gennai patiently replied.

"Well what is it?" Kari blurted out, trying not to sound impatient.

"In order to get you here, all traffic intended for the Highton View Terrace gate had to be rerouted through the breach in the dream dimension made during the battle. To do that, the old route had to be closed off so that stress wouldn't be put on the gate each time it tried to be passed through. When Oikawa did that, something odd happened."

"What happened?"

"It's not completely certain what happened, but we do know some data escaped from the data barrier BlackWarGreymon made with his body. It might be that data caught between the two worlds in an unstable state was pulled into the Digital World when the gate was suddenly cut off. It didn't affect the strength of the barrier, but the escaping data made its way to Primary Village and turned into a completely black Digi-Egg."

Ken looked at the black Koromon thoughtfully. "So did the black Koromon come from that egg?" Ken asked Gennai.

"Yes. After Elecmon found it, he wasn't sure what to make of it, and neither did we, so I took it back here. It hatched into a Botamon, and then the Botamon Digivolved into the black Koromon you see here. He doesn't talk much, and it seems he recognizes you two, but doesn't know why. He also has a lot of scrambled memories about things like the Destiny Stones."

"But it shouldn't be possible for BlackWarGreymon to be reborn, even without his body trapped in a gate! He was fake, made from Control Spires!"

Gennai chuckled and shook his head before beginning to explain: "That's because you don't know all the details. You understood well enough that the Digimon made from Control Spires were not real Digimon, but you didn't understand why that was. Not even Arukenimon and Mummymon could understand it, because they were made from the DNA of an Oikawa controlled by Myotismon. Oikawa thought he was creating from scratch, but in reality it was only imitating, under Myotismon's direction, a natural process that creates the Digimon in the Digital World. Arukenimon and Mummymon thought the same way as Oikawa, which was why they couldn't understand why BlackWarGreymon seemed so uncontrollable: it was too perfect an imitation of a real Digimon, not a controllable fake."

"So the ones made from only one or ten Control Spires could only imitate the appearance, not the full behavior?"

"Exactly. You would probably call those Digimon automatons, and they would not be reborn as the means to do so didn't exist in them. However, BlackWarGreymon was made from 100 Control Spires, which provided enough data to provide a more-perfect, in fact a near-perfect, imitation of a real Digimon."

"And when the data escaped, it went to Primary Village and became a new Digi-Egg, reforming in the way other Digimon would."

"Yes, that is the theory. Of course, we can't be sure, because the Koromon's memories seemed to be scrambled. It's all speculation at this point, but it seems reasonable."

"All right, we'll make sure to pass the word on." Kari stated reassuringly.

A moment of silence passed, and soon there was fidgeting: Ken and Kari thought they should both go help Izzy and T.K. instead of staying here.

"They'll send you a message if they need anyone else's help. Oikawa really wants you here, so I would like you to wait here until he shows up." Gennai replied when Ken asked if they could leave to help the other two. Ken and Kari exchanged worried glances, but agreed to stay. After all, one intruder didn't seem to be such a big deal that more than two people needed to handle it...

* * *

_Meanwhile, near Primary Village..._

"Ahh, there he is!"

"There who is?"

"That guardian creature. Now pipe down!"

Elecmon faced left, ears perked up. He was sure he heard voices from somewhere, but couldn't say where. "Hello? Is there someone here?" he said, looking around as he spoke.

After a moment, he heard a rustle in some nearby bushes. Suspicious, he went over to check it out... and was immediately ambushed by the intruder and his companion, who tried to grab him as he approached their hiding place.

Elecmon scrambled away and the intruders crashed flat on their faces. Elecmon got a safe distance away and turned to face the pair, now getting up. "What are you? Intruders? Why did you try to grab me?" he yelled as accusations.

"Bah! It's never easy!" the leader replied before charging the Digimon again. Elecmon barely missed being scooped up, and managed to get to a fair distance away before deciding he needed to chase them out.

"Intruders or no, you're dangerous and you need to leave now! **Super Thunder Strike!**" Elecmon exclaimed just before jumping into the air and discharging a large bolt of electricity toward the lead attacker. The assistant saw the attack and pulled the leader out of the way, converting the dive into a roll and both quickly getting back up.

The leader looked to see Elecmon preparing to attack again and quickly pulled out the green crystal he had, holding up in the direction the bolt would come from. Elecmon fired another bolt, but when it hit the crystal it turned green and got sent back toward him. The returned attack knocked him out and he landed on the ground with a thud.

The leader looked on with satisfaction. "We don't need to worry about him. Now come on, we've got work to do!" he said, running toward Primary Village, his assistant in tow holding some study equipment...

* * *

_Back at Gennai's house..._

"Gatomon, trying to read that poor Digimon's mind isn't going to help anything." Kari stated in exasperation. Her Digimon partner had been trying, first verbally and then psychically, to tease the memory of the black Koromon, perhaps hoping to bring up some fragment of image or sound that would identify the Digimon as the reborn version of BlackWarGreymon.

Though both Kari and Ken felt the attempt to be a useless waste of time, they could see why she was doing it. If this Koromon was the reborn version of BlackWarGreymon, they would want him as a true ally now, particularly if (as seemed to be the case after the rebirth of the Digital World following Apocalymon's defeat) reborn Digimon return to the level they reached before dying much faster than it took to reach that level in the first place. It was only common sense that if there was going to be a BlackWarGreymon running around again, it should at least be working for the right team.

That being said though, it was doubtful the plan could be put into action as hoped due to the Koromon's mixed-up memories. The way things were going, it would ultimately end up being deja vu, albeit with less hassle. Kari shook her head and sighed before sitting down again next to Ken.

"So now what? We just wait some more?" Kari asked Ken.

"I guess so." Ken replied.

"Mmm... I don't want to be here though, I want to go help Izzy and T.K."

"I know, but I guess Oikawa is more important. Maybe we only get one chance to hear what he has to say."

"I'm thinking he'll have a lot to say, too. If this is going to go the way I think it will, then it's going to be rough on all of us."

"We've all had a rough past couple of months."

Kari nodded, that was certainly true. She was also blushing a little bit because it felt awkward talking to Ken in such an open matter, regardless of whether the other DigiDestined would approve of it or not. Ken was not like T.K.; T.K. was easy to talk to, partly because his personality naturally made him more open. Ken, on the other hand, was a tougher nut to crack. Maybe that was the reason the relationship never got going before that tragic New Year's Eve battle threw them together...

"Something is coming." Leomon (who had been standing nearby) stated. At this, both Ken and Kari got up and approached the main entrance to the house, followed by Gatomon and Wormmon. As they approached, a rushing sound was heard from the outside, and when Kari opened the door leading outside, they were not greeted with a deluge of water but the stairs they had used instead, though it appeared no one was on them. Kari looked up the stairs to see a small flock of butterflies hovering over the stairs, descending toward them.

"Oikawa!" Ken exclaimed as Kari hastily moved out of the path of the butterflies, still holding the door open. The flock quickly entered, swirling around the Digimon and Ken as well as Gennai, and began to condense into a glowing column as Kari closed the door.

As the group looked on, the column slowly resolved itself into an image of Yukio Oikawa, the closest thing to a physical form now possible to take. He looked tormented, trapped, bitterly sad; his eyes both pleading and haunted. Kari was moved to try to hug him, but he recoiled away as a result.

Kari stepped back, turned and looked at Ken. Why didn't he want to be hugged? Maybe any attempt at contact would be a too-painful reminder of the fact that he didn't have any real physical form anymore. Maybe Oikawa had some regrets about his "final wish". It certainly looked like he wasn't exactly enjoying the role he had placed himself in.

The Oikawa image composed his attitude and pleaded "Please... please don't try to touch me. It's too painful, far too painful."

"But you're still alive here. Don't you want our comfort?" Kari asked, somberly looking at the face.

"Alive? Is this really alive? I have lost everything! This spirit is all that is left of me. You think that I have gained more than I have lost, but I'm telling you now that I haven't! I mean look at me! **LOOK AT ME!**"

The Oikawa image attempted to reach out and touch the table, but instead the hand passed through, and he cried out in dismay as this happened. "You see?! This is all I have left now! All of me left after Myotismon used me up and tossed me away!", the image continued. "All of me that is left to clean up the mess he used me to make! This is no blessing, this is my agony, the scars I have from him. Myotismon, you promised me, YOU PROMISED ME!..."

The image of Oikawa broke down in tears, unable to continue. Ken and Kari watched him weep and realized that Myotismon had left him truly destitute: forcing him to continue in a thankless existence deprived of physical contact and also the haunting memories of the Spore-infected children and Ken combining to crush him with a seemingly unbearable weight. Oikawa also had no friend that could die for him or bring him back from the agony, and his life in a physical form was the only thing that could be paid for his freedom. In the end Cody tried to be that needed friend, with all his little heart he did, but it just wasn't enough.

Oikawa looked back up and sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks. "He made the promise, but he didn't intend to keep it. All I wanted was to escape my agony, maybe to find Hiroki again, but instead he multiplied it to beyond bearing!" he exclaimed. "He told me darkness was the way, that he would grant me my wish if I did all the things he wanted me to. He lied to me, LIED TO ME! And look what he made me do: poisoned lives, death, suffering! He made me an enemy of Cody, spitting in the face of that friendship I had! I might as well have trampled over his father's grave!"

The image paused, taking a few short stiff breaths to calm down before continuing: "And after he** promised me** the Digital World, he dumps me and leaves me for dead in some other crazy universe! This form was the only way out, not even Cody could've helped me at that point, try though he did. I can't... even begin... to think how much this has hurt him, hurt all of you. But now there is nothing I can do other than what I have condemned myself to do. I have no way back now, nothing. I wasn't as lucky as you two were."

The "two" was immediately understood to refer to Ken and Gatomon, and of course Oikawa was right. He did have no way he could come back without losing everything, because Myotismon kept away Cody, the only one who may have been able to help him. Whether Myotismon intended it or not, it made the situation even more tragic by playing into his plan. And it was reasonably certain Cody knew this.

Cody was already carrying so much regret, would it only make things worse if he was told what was just said? It was decided that Cody probably had already guessed, so it didn't seem like it shouldn't be told.

"Make sure Cody knows what I've said here. And find my Digimon Datirimon, he's the only companion left to me and he was taken by the intruder. It would help me so much, please?" Oikawa pleaded.

"We will, and don't worry." Kari confidently stated.

Oikawa's image smiled gratefully. "I cannot hold this image much longer, but there is still something that needs to be said." he somberly continued. "After Myotismon possessed me, I began to hate cats, to take perverse pleasure in seeing them tortured, abused and killed. I frequently began to beat and yell at felines that came too close. I never understood why I acted this way until now; Myotismon hated Gatomon, and made me hate anything that looked like her. But now I see both sides of the mirror, and... I think I finally understand the memories Myotismon scarred me with. I finally understand you, Gatomon."

"I think we both do now." Ken added with a grin on his face as he knelt down beside the feline Digimon. Gatomon looked back up with a sad smile, first at Ken, then at the Oikawa image.

After an emotion-filled moment, the Oikawa image sadly stated "I cannot hold this any longer. I must leave you now. Goodbye... Digidestined. I hope you are helping those kids now, because I cannot help even myself."

"We are, Oikawa. We both wish you do well in your duty." Kari stated with a smile.

"Thank you." the Oikawa image stated, just before dissolving back into the flock of butterflies and slowly drifting toward the door. The door opened to show the stairs leading up out of the lake, and the butterflies ascended slowly, almost reluctantly, up the stairs. Gennai closed the door, and a heavy feeling descended on Ken and Kari. They now had to tell the news to the rest of the DigiDestined, which made their hearts sink down inside of them...

* * *

"Come here, maybe this will cheer you up." Gennai said with a smile after noticing the glum faces of the DigiDestined pair. He lead them into the room he had been in when they first arrived.

The room was small, but furnished with a fair amount of comfort. In one corner was something that looked like a dog's bed cushion (obviously where the black Koromon slept), in another was what appeared to be a broken TV set, in a third a locked safe, and in the final corner was a small panel with a red button beside it. Kari tried the button beside the panel, and the panel opened to reveal several rows of keyhangers with keys on each hanger, like something you would see in a hotel lobby.

Kari picked a keyring at random and saw the attached tag read "Andromon – Guest 35, Room 2". She looked at another one and saw the tag on that one read "Frigimon – Guest 19, Room 1".

"Oh yeah, we had many Digimon going in and out of here when things started going crazy again. It was never really a hotel, but I tried to make it feel like one." Gennai explained when he noticed what Kari was doing.

"That also explains the broken Digiport in the other corner. At first, I thought it was a good idea to have a direct connection to the real world, so that I could bring you straight here for instance, but eventually I realized it was more of a liability than an asset, so I broke it. I'll fix it after the Crest barrier comes down."

"What are we in here for anyway?" Ken asked.

"Patience. Good things come to those who wait." Gennai replied in the mysteriously helpful tone that had once been his trademark. Kari and Ken looked at each other as Gennai bent down by the safe and began to unlock it with a key he had grabbed from the keyhanger board.

"This was actually found a couple of days ago. After it got lost, it ended up in the hoard of some Gazimon. One of your old friends found it and brought it here. I put it in here for safekeeping until you arrived." Gennai explained as he fiddled with the combination lock, quickly unlocking the safe.

"What is 'it' anyway?" Wormmon asked.

"You'll see in just a minute...Ah-ha, there we are!"

Gennai came up from his rummaging with a whistle, the kind used in sports or camp games. It had been scratched up and rust showed in several spots, but was still in reasonably good condition. With a great grin on his face, Gennai dropped the whistle into Kari's hands.

Kari gave it a puzzled stare for a few seconds, then put it up to her lips and blew into it. A sweet trilling sound, filled with memory, echoed throughout the room. Instantly, both Kari and Gatomon lit up with joy, and the black Koromon came bouncing into the room, drawn by the whistling.

Kari laughed. "We'll this is certainly a day of deja vu!" she exclaimed as she looped the whistle string around Gatomon's neck, where it really belonged.

"Why is that?" Ken asked.

"Didn't T.K. or Izzy ever tell you? I used to carry this whistle everywhere! I had it during the Highton View Terrace incident, and during the time I was in the first Digidestined. I gave it to Gatomon when I had to leave the Digital World at the end of that time, but I didn't see it after that. I guess it got as lost as the ring did!"

Ken couldn't quite see how a person could get worked up over a whistle. A picture he could understand, but a whistle seemed so... ordinary. And it wasn't soft like a blanket. Maybe it had something to do with the sound...

The thoughts trailed off, and Ken found himself smiling politely at Kari as she bent down and tried to get the black Koromon to say something. The scene hadn't time to get sentimental though, because after a few moments Leomon, who had been watching the security monitors, suddenly announced that a Digimon was approaching the lake fast!

The entire group, minus the Leomon and the black Koromon, quickly got up and out to meet the Digimon as it approached. By now, it was obvious that the approaching Digimon was a Greymon carrying a small Digimon in one of its claws. The Greymon looked the same as the Champion form of Tai's Digimon, but was considerably larger.

The Greymon slowed to a halt, then carefully set the Digimon he was holding. He looked back up, and tentatively waved in the direction of Kari's gaze. Kari noticed this, and slackened her pace as she stared back up at the Greymon. A thought crossed her mind... impossible?... no, not on a day of deja vu...

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had gathered around the Digimon that had been delivered to them. "Piximon, and in pretty bad shape too. Looks like his energy got drained somehow." Gennai summarily stated.

Kari hurried over and knelled beside the others around the small pink Digimon. Piximon groaned, trying and failing to get himself upright; he did indeed looked tired, lacking the usual wry sparkle in his eyes. Something serious had to have happened to him to put him in this condition.

"I was... attacked... ambushed by the intruders. They took me to an old hiding place... other Digimon captive there as well... keep weak by a green crystal... I barely escaped through an attack distraction... intruders...are headed..." Piximon weakly explained, his voice lacking its usual peppiness, instead sounding heavy and tired.

"We know that they're headed for the Primary Village, T.K. and Izzy are taking care of it. Do you know where the others are being held?" Gatomon asked.

"He can take you to the place... hurry..." Piximon replied, wearily pointing to the Greymon that carried him here.

"You two need to get going. Gennai and I will take care of Piximon, you go help find the others." Leomon stated.

"Right, let's get going!" Ken stated...

**Ken and Kari have accomplished their tasks, but what about Izzy and T.K.? Are they too late to stop the evil intruder's plans? And can Ken and Kari work to find the other Digimon held captive by him? Find out in Part 4, "Confrontation!"**


	4. Confrontation!

**Part 4: Confrontation!**

While all the previous events unfolded, T.K. and Izzy were mounted on the back of their respective Digimon, speeding toward Primary Village. Now they came across a sight which was very familiar to T.K.: large towers made of stacks of what looked like oversize versions of baby blocks, all painted with various bright colors and images designed to amuse the young inhabitants.

T.K. couldn't let sentiment distract him, though. "All right, let's split up. I'll find Elecmon, you see if you can find the intruder." he yelled to Izzy, who agreed to the plan and immediately had Kabuterimon pull off in another direction. Pegasusmon and Kabuterimon immediately began criss-crossing the village for signs of trouble or Elecmon.

T.K. found the latter first, still knocked out by some bushes, a red shape from the tower-top height Pegasusmon was flying at. "He's not moving, maybe hurt badly. We need to get to him now!" T.K. exclaimed, and quickly Pegasusmon descended to a spot near where Elecmon lay unconscious...

As soon as Pegasusmon had landed, T.K. was off and running toward Elecmon, Pegasusmon following behind. T.K. ran up beside Elecmon, dropped to one knee and gently picked him up as he looked around with fear and dismay in his eyes: with Elecmon knocked out, who knows what could've happened to the baby Digimon?

"Elecmon, wake up!" T.K. pleaded, gently shaking the Digimon in his arms and looking around with panic in his eyes. Above him, Kabuterimon swooped overhead and he heard Izzy yell something that he couldn't make out.

Elecmon groaned and shifted in T.K.'s arms, opening his eyes to see a face creased with concern and worry, a face he wasn't sure he could identify. "T...K...?" he groggily said.

"What happened?" T.K. desperately asked as he looked down at the old friend.

"I'm not sure. I heard a noise, was ambushed..." Elecmon began, before bolting upright and yelling "THE BABIES!"

Immediately Elecmon was up and running, leaping out of T.K.'s arms and running toward the center of the village. T.K. and Pegasusmon took off after him...

* * *

They only traveled a short distance before noticing Kabuterimon zooming over them to land in the nursery area nearby. Kabuterimon carefully set down, then let Izzy down. The latter immediately ran over to an area where two human figures were. As T.K.'s group neared, they could see Izzy begin to yell at the figures, Kabuterimon acting as a menacing backup. One of the pair was holding what looked like a barcode reader, while the other held some kind of notepad in his hands, both looking up with annoyance and concern at Izzy.

"You leave those eggs alone! You shouldn't be here anyway!" Izzy was yelling when T.K. came within earshot.

"Oh, would you just call off your bug friend? I'm not going to make omelets out of them if that's what everyone is worked up about!" the man holding the reader replied with scowling annoyance. He appeared to be older than his partner and was probably the one in charge.

"Then what are you doing here? And why did you have to knock out Elecmon?" Izzy sharply questioned, having already figured out why they were doing what they were doing without being molested.

"We are merely researching the eggs, and we were forced to knock out that red furry toad because he was getting in the way. We don't like it when something gets in our way!"

"That doesn't give you any right to muscle your way in here!"

"Yeah, and those eggs contain real creatures! You shouldn't be treating them merely as research subjects!" T.K. added, his group now close enough to assist Izzy should an attack take place.

The pair of "researchers" turned to face T.K. and scowled at him in frustration. "You guys never give up, do you? This research is to be for the great benefit of mankind!" the man with the reader angrily explained.

"We don't believe you!" T.K. tartly replied.

"You are neither wanted or liked! Now get out of here before we are forced to attack!" Kabuterimon quickly added.

"All right then, you leave us no choice. We will not have mere teenagers interfere with the great cause of our research!" the lead researcher confidently yelled as both him and his partner dropped their equipment. The leader pulled out a small green crystal, glowing from within, and held it out in front of Kabuterimon and Pegasusmon menacingly.

"Watch out! The crystal...!" Elecmon tried to warn the others, but it was too late. The crystal emitted a green flash as Pegasusmon and Kabuterimon took off to prepare to attack, and instantly both Digimon were hit, reverting to Patamon and Tentomon and falling back to the ground.

"Hurry, get to the Jeep!" the leader ordered as he returned the crystal to its hiding place and scooped up some of the equipment. The partner got the rest and both quickly took off across the village.

"After them!" T.K. yelled as he, Izzy and Elecmon ran after the duo, followed by a slightly disoriented Patamon and Tentomon. The chase was intense, T.K. and Izzy having to be careful not to crush anything underfoot while running. As the DigiDestined group approached the edge of the village, they saw the pair jump into an army Jeep vehicle, then start it up and take off, gunning the engine in an effort to escape.

The speeding vehicle kicked up a large dust cloud that caused the chasers to stop in their tracks, coughing and wheezing in the thick brown dust. When the cloud dissipated, the vehicle and its occupants were gone.

"Shoot!" T.K. exclaimed, slamming his fisted right hand into his left hand and staring out to the horizon with a frustrated glare.

Izzy turned back to Tentomon and Patamon, concern creasing his face. "What happened to you two back there? It looked like you had him!"

"The crystal drained our energy, we couldn't hold the form any longer!" Tentomon exclaimed.

"That's bad news. We need to get that crystal away from those guys as well as catch up to them. Are you guys up to Digivolving again?" T.K. stated.

"Yeah, we're fine now." Patamon replied.

"Good. Elecmon, you go back and see if any of the babies are missing or eggs have been broken. Izzy and I will go after the intruders."

"Will do, T.K." Elecmon stated before running back into the village.

T.K. then turned to face Izzy and said "Come on, we have to catch up to that Jeep. We can't let them get away!"

* * *

_Meanwhile, somewhere in a Digital World desert..._

Ken on Stingmon and Kari on Nefertimon were flying over a hot, barren stretch of rocky soil, one of the Digital World's deserts. They were currently following the oversized Greymon they had met outside Gennai's house towards the supposed location of the hideout of the intruders.

The Greymon puzzled both Ken and Kari, but for different reasons in each case: Ken was wondering why the Greymon was bigger than Tai's, but Kari was wondering why it looked familiar for some reason. With the heat waves coming up off the surface, she wasn't even sure it wasn't an optical illusion they were looking at.

"This a puzzle to you too?" Ken replied after he noticed Kari give him a sidelong glance.

"Well... it's more like, really weird." Kari replied.

"Weird?"

"This whole day has been bizarre, and now I can't help but feeling that this Greymon has something to do with HVT."

"'HVT'?"

"Highton View Terrace, the supposed terrorist attack. How much do you know about it?"

Ken shrugged. "As much as anybody else until I met Oikawa. After I met him, he sent me a copy of his 'top-secret' investigations into the incident, which suggested a monster battle instead of random attacks of terror; part of the file stated that the monsters weren't from Earth. I guess he sent the file to me to make his other stories easier to swallow. After that, I was only told by Izzy that it was two Digimon battling."

"Did Izzy say anything about what the Digimon were?"

"One of them was a Greymon. Gennai told us the other Digimon was a Parrotmon. That's all I've been told about it. Why all the sudden interest in it?"

"Well, Gennai also told me that the Digimon were sent back to the Digital World at the end of the battle, not destroyed, so..."

"You think they might still be alive somewhere, able to meet you again?"

"Exactly." Kari answered as she looked down at the Greymon again. The Digimon was pointing to something just on the horizon, a low shelter perhaps. Kari scratched her head, shrugged, and had Nefertimon turn in the direction the Greymon was pointing. She looked back as she passed, and saw the Greymon waving to her again.

"You really think...?" Ken asked Kari as he too noticed the Greymon waving at her.

"I don't know, I can't be sure. And anyways, we've got a job to do. Come on!"

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the fleeing Jeep..._

The assistant looked back from his passenger-seat view to see Pegasusmon and Kabuterimon through the dust cloud behind the vehicle. He turned to the driver, the leader, and yelled to him over the engine "Sir, they're still pursuing us!"

"Relax, they won't be able to catch us before we reach the hideout. Once we're there, we can transfer the data and then see whether we can get those pests to go away for good." the driver replied.

The Jeep sped on, leaving both a dust cloud and easily recognizable tracks on the desert surface...

* * *

Nefertimon and Stingmon set down near the shelter, now seen as a large hole in the desert floor covered by a canvas tarp to keep the sun from beaming down into the hole. After they dismounted, Ken and Kari peered down into the hole, seeing a ramp that seemed to lead underground somewhere...

"Kari and I will check out where that hole goes. You two Digimon stand guard and yell down if anything approaches." Ken told Stingmon and Nefertimon.

"Are you sure about this, Ken?" Stingmon worriedly asked.

"We need guards to see if anybody is coming in, not if they're already inside. If you don't see us after 20 minutes, come in after us, alright?"

"Alright. But neither of us have watches, so how would we know how long its been?"

Ken sighed and slapped his forehead, causing Kari to giggle. "If you hear something, come down after us, OK?!" Ken explained in annoyance.

Nefertimon and Stingmon nodded in acknowledgment, and then both Ken and Kari turned to look down the hole again. "1... 2... 3..." Ken counted before both he and Kari began walking into the hole.

The hole sloped downward at a moderate angle, really more of a dirt ramp than anything else. And it was pitch black except for the light shining down from the surface. The pair cautiously moved down the ramp, feeling for anything in front of them; the chamber was surprisingly cool and had a musty gasoline smell. The ramp only went down a short distance before the floor leveled off into an underground room about the size of a small garage.

"Look!" Kari exclaimed as she pointed toward a doorway lit with an eerie green glow. The same green glow spilled out into the room they were in, lighting them and the walls with a dim green glow. Slowly Ken and Kari approached the doorway, the glow brightening as they approached.

Stepping through the doorway, they entered a small chamber, smaller than the one they had been in. At the center of the room, placed on a small pedestal, was a bright green crystal, rectangular in shape, about an inch long, half an inch wide and quarter-inch thick. It was the source of the green glow that illuminated the room, casting sharply-contrasting areas of bright and shadow on all the room's occupants.

Ken and Kari were shocked to find a number of Digimon in the room, all showing signs of being in an extremely weak state. None of the Digimon were chained to anything, but all were laying or sitting, obviously too weak to even move much.

Ken scanned the scene. From his time as the Digimon Emperor, he recognized many of the Digimon: Unimon, Ogremon, Centaurmon, Gotsumon, Geckomon, Otamamon and (he gulped at seeing this Digimon) Andromon.

Ken's gaze locked on Andromon, more of fear than of anything else. His memory was recalling all too vividly how as the Digimon Emperor he had tried to use Andromon to destroy the group of DigiDestined that were now his best friends, Kari in particular. Thoughts of accusations and of Andromon's hand crushing his neck froze him in place.

Kari, not burdened by such thoughts, was giving the Digimon a more through look-over. Almost all of the Digimon were in a barely conscious state, breathing but hardly responding to her gentle pokes and whispered attempts to get them to respond. As she moved to Andromon, she noticed Ken's frozen stare.

"Ken, I think you're overreacting. Besides, it might be that Andromon is not awake either." Kari stated as she tried to listen for breathing. Andromon's eyes were closed, but they could still hear his cybernetic breathing; he was sitting, slumped forward, arms limply rested on the knees of his outstretched legs, looking like all the energy had been drained out of him.

Ken watched warily as Kari gently shook one shoulder of the Digimon... nothing happened. Then Kari whispered Andromon's name... this had an immediate effect.

Andromon slowly lifted his head up, the eyes opening again. He had trouble keeping this position though, and it took a few seconds for him to scan the room. Laboriously, he tried to speak: "...Kari...?"

Kari smiled and bent down on one knee in front of Andromon while Ken recoiled, almost afraid of what would happen next. Andromon's sleepy gaze slowly turned to face him, then after a few moments of scanning he said "Ken... Ichi... jouji...?"

Ken looked back at Andromon, then at Kari, in a mixture of surprise and relief. Kari said "See, I told you there was nothing to worry about. Now help me figure out how to help them." Ken, numb with confusion, blankly nodded and squatted down beside Kari.

"What's wrong?" Kari asked Andromon.

"The crystal... remove it..." Andromon weakly replied. Ken quickly jumped up and took the crystal, tingling in his fingers, off the pedestal it was on. He briefly looked the crystal over, then stuffed it in his pocket; the room plunged into darkness but the Digimon stirred and slowly began to wake up again.

"Hmm. It does look like it was draining their energy..." Kari stated.

"Do you think it's safe to...?" Ken began to ask before hearing something like muffled gunshots, then a muffled explosion a few seconds later. Regardless of the danger or darkness, Ken and Kari both raced back up to the surface...

* * *

When they emerged into the initially blinding sunlight, they saw the source of the muffled sounds: two men were firing at a dodging Stingmon and Nefertimon using handguns while behind them a Jeep-like vehicle lay wrecked and burning, a massive tablet-like stone wedged into its front end. Obviously they had approached what was a base of theirs and noticed the Digimon standing guard, provoking their attack and Nefertimon's counterattack that took the vehicle out of commission.

Ken and Kari watched worriedly as the men ran around firing, then saw a large ball of electricity crash down from the sky and blow both men off their feet. Looking up, they saw the source of that attack to be Kabuterimon, who still had Izzy on his back and Pegasusmon (with T.K.) flying beside him.

"Those guys are the ones causing all the trouble! We need to stop them now!" T.K. exclaimed to Ken and Kari as Pegasusmon and Kabuterimon descended to drop off him and Izzy.

The two men quickly found themselves surrounded by the four pair of humans and Digimon, but continued to fire at them while pressed back to back, forcing the DigiDestined group to keep dodging. When the handguns ran out of rounds, the leader pulled out his green crystal and the assistant pulled out a small defensive sword.

"Watch out! That crystal is dangerous!" T.K. exclaimed just before the leader starting using the crystal to fire green "laser blasts" at the Digimon. First Kabuterimon and then Nefertimon were hit, causing both to revert and fall out of the sky.

Meanwhile, the assistant had charged at the four Digidestined teens on the ground, causing them to scatter away from his slashing and hacking attempts. He homed in on Ken, and desperately Ken tried to use the crystal to defend himself. To the surprise of both him and his opponent, the sword seemed to bounce of a green "force field" around Ken, giving the latter the opportunity to use a few judo hits to drop the assailant.

Ken looked over at the leader using his crystals to fire laser beams and said to himself, "Hmm. These things must work on willpower, whatever you will the crystal to do it will do." He decided to test this theory by charging the leader, who was still trying to get the other two Digimon.

The leader noticed the charge, but his attempts to blast Ken away were blocked by the same shield Ken had created. Ken attempted to counterattack with beams of his own, but the leader instead tried to force him away with a field like Ken's. The two fields began to push against each other, and the green-colored result of the conflict of wills built to an enormous shockwave that knocked everyone down and caused both Pegasusmon and Stingmon to revert and fall as well.

The two intruders recovered first, the Digidestined barely able to do better than getting on hands and knees. The leader pulled out his defensive sword as well and approached Ken while his assistant went for Kari. Too weakened by the blast, Wormmon and Gatomon were helpless to watch as the sharp sword tips came closer to the chests of their respective human partners...

* * *

Just before the swords could penetrate, the two men were suddenly interrupted by a great stomping and shaking which was coming from their left, opposite the entrance to the underground chamber. Everyone turned just in time to see the oversized Greymon fire his Nova Blaster in the direction of the lead intruder, allowing the Digidestined to scatter to safety while the intruders tried to flee the blast. The leader made it, but the assistant ran smack into an ambush set by Leomon, and after a short defensive sword fight was sent flying through a punch.

The regrouping Digidestined turned to see Gennai and the black Koromon charging out from behind the oversized Greymon. The black Koromon peeled off and spit black bubbles at the disoriented lead intruder, causing enough of a distraction to allow him to latch on and force the leader to find a way to get him off.

Gennai stopped beside the Digidestined and breathlessly exclaimed that it looked like they were just in time. "Yes yes, calvary and all that. We're just glad you're here." Tentomon replied.

"So am I. I have something that might allow a way to counteract the crystal's effects for good." Gennai stated before pulling something out of his coat. It glowed a pure white even in the bright desert sun, looking something like a pear made out of white crystal.

"What is that?" T.K. asked Gennai.

"This is one of the fruits of the Trees of Light. Azulongmon said that anyone that ate it would gain a great amount of power, perhaps enough to Digivolve several levels up!"

"Like what happened with Azulongmon's Digi-Core?"

"Sort of."

"Well we could use the extra power right now." T.K. stated eagerly, the others nodding in agreement.

"I should tell you though that all effects of eating the fruit are permanent and very difficult to undo. Once the Digimon Digivolves, the Digimon stays that way. That's why only I am allowed to take them off the Trees." Gennai cautiously stated.

There was an obvious problem. Access to higher levels, not permanent Digivolution to those forms (which would cause problems to multiply a thousand-fold) was what was desired. "All right, who will you give it too then?" Izzy worriedly asked.

"Leomon, he deserves a boost. After all, he did get to Mega during your first adventure, why not grant him the honor of staying in it from now on?"

"All right but whatever you do, do it quick!" T.K. exclaimed. He had turned around to see the leader trying to fire a crystal blast at the Greymon while the assistant was again up and dueling with Leomon. He and the other Digidestined ran toward the Greymon, and as they did so they saw the group of formerly captive Digimon emerge and fire out coordinated attacks toward the leader. The leader turned just in time to see the attacks and use the crystal to send them back at the Digimon, which scattered away as the attacks exploded and collapsed the entrance to the underground chamber.

Quickly the black Koromon (who had been shaken off shortly before) attempted to attack the leader again, but was knocked away by a crystal blast. The oversized Greymon fired his Nova Blast again, but the leader countered using the crystal and sent the blast back at the Greymon. Ken pulled off and quickly hit the unprepared leader with a right hook, dropping the crystal from his hand, while the unsteadied Greymon fell over and crashed onto the desert surface, energy drained out of him.

Kari and Gatomon ran over to a spot near where the Greymon's face was, Kari having a major sense of deja vu. On intuition, she ordered Gatomon to blow the whistle she had. Gatomon, though she gave Kari a strange look, did so, and after a moment the Greymon came to, smiling as he slowly came to. The whistle had other effects: it allowed Ken to throw down the distracted leader to the ground, and Leomon to knock the assistant away again.

T.K. and Izzy quickly jumped onto the leader and attempted to help Ken hold him to the ground, but the crystal flashed out again and all three boys were sent tumbling across the desert. The leader stood up, undaunted by the crowd of opponents surrounding him. "Leomon, NOW!" Gennai exclaimed.

Gennai tossed the fruit into a high arc in Leomon's direction. Instantly both intruders tried to intercept it in mid-flight, but the Digidestined were faster. Ken scooped up the dropped crystal and used both that one and his own to create a field in front of the leader that reflected him away while the assistant was assaulted by Gatomon and the black Koromon jointly and also sent tumbling away. In one motion, the fruit was caught and quickly eaten by Leomon.

Instantly the Leomon started to glow very brightly, causing the Digidestined to pull back into a group and the two intruders to reunite as well. The Digidestined looked on with surprise, while the two intruders were frozen with fear.

Leomon's glowing form rose into the sky...

**1100101110111010111011**

**Leomon Warp-Digivolve to...**

**SetoLeomon!**

**1001110101001011100101**

...and changed into a form similar to what SaberLeomon had been, only standing upright and with the front paws turned into hands with long claw fingers. The body was the same gold color as SaberLeomon had been, but the decorative markings were now white in red instead of just red. There were three rows of horizontal white "tiger stripes" on the sides of the new form, as were several more on the face converging toward eyes now surrounded by black patch and cheetah-like "tear stains" going down the face. Finally, and most importantly, wings similar to Garudamon's spread out wide from behind the shoulders, though these were colored gold with white stripes and red-tipped feathers instead of the red and gold coloration Garudamon has.

The new form of Leomon emerged through the fading glow, hovering in mid-air with wings outspread and snarling at the surprised Digidestined and alarmed intruders, now standing together inside a semi-circle of their opponents.

**"Aerial Fang!" **SetoLeomon exclaimed as the huge saber fangs glowed, then shot out a pair of boomerang-shaped energy arcs toward the intruders. The Digidestined and Gennai scattered away while the intruders, petrified with fear, took a direct hit.

The ground around them exploded, knocking the scattering Digidestined down. When they recovered, a small crater was smoldering in the desert floor, the two intruders blown against a wall and showing no signs of life. SetoLeomon descended and landed on his large black feet, perhaps expecting to quickly revert back to Leomon.

Kari and T.K. rushed toward the crater as the other Digidestined and the recently-liberated Digimon began gathering back together. Kneeling beside the bodies, they tested for breathing and pulse, but found none. "They're dead." T.K. grimly said.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the human world,southern Saitama Prefecture, Japan, temporary Ankokuwa Central Command..._

The computer console in the recovery room of Ankokuwa leader Giman Uirusu suddenly began to flash and blare warning alerts. Kobu, his "little brother" and temporarily in command of the Ankokuwa gang while Giman recovered from the disastrous Fuji TV building attack two weeks before, zoomed over to the console and read the messages. Immediately a stunned look appeared on his face.

"Data Harvester... terminated?!" he said with surprise and alarm in his voice.

"What? The program has been terminated?!" Giman, currently awake and laying in bed, exclaimed. His right arm currently was bound in a bandage cast, making it hard for him to sit up in bed as he only had his left arm to use.

"It says that Data Harvester has been terminated by another program and that the data upload stream has been shut off!" Kobu stated.

Giman struggled to roll over on his left side, facing the terminal, and push himself up on his left arm. "Ping the origin of the attack and then send it a message; tell them they have made a big mistake and that they will pay for their interference!"

"Yes sir!"Kobu replied, going to work at the keyboard...

* * *

_Back in the Digital World..._

Kari and T.K. looked on the dead intruders with concern while in the background they heard Ken call for Datirimon and Izzy talking with Gennai about the effects of the fruit of the Trees of Light and how they needed to be guarded.

They looked up at the circle of Digimon surrounding SetoLeomon just for a moment, by this point realizing any reversion would not take place quickly, then when returned their gaze to the intruders were gone, vanished into thin air!

"Where'd they go?" T.K. asked, looking around fiercely.

"Look, there's a note!" Kari exclaimed, pulling a small paper note from where the intruders had been laying it. T.K. looked over as Kari unfolded and read the note:

"To the terminators of this program: I don't know how or why you decided to stop this program, but be assured that in doing so you have made a big mistake. We will hunt you down and destroy you as meddlers acting against the aims of the great Ankokuwa organization. -Giman Uirusu"

* * *

T.K. and Kari looked at each other. "Then what were they? Programs in human form? Agents for something else?", Kari asked.

"I don't know, but they probably weren't human. We need to show this to Izzy and Ken right now." T.K. firmly stated as he climbed back out of the shallow crater and toward Izzy, who was examining SetoLeomon with great curiosity.

As Kari hurried to follow, something caught her eye. She saw Gatomon, motioning to follow. Kari did so, and to her surprise Gatomon led her to a black-colored Agumon, who seemed to be examining himself intently, particularly his long, three-clawed arms, looking at them as if something was familiar about them...

The black Agumon looked up at Kari and Gatomon's approach and smiled, almost as if they were friends. Kari stopped in front of him, and cautiously examined the black Agumon's left arm. Excepting for the color, it was exactly the same as that as Tai's Agumon. Out of curiosity, she asked the only natural question that came to her mind: "Did you Digivolve from that black Koromon?"

The Agumon nodded shyly and then began explaining, his voice sounding about as different from Tai's Agumon as BlackWarGreymon had been from WarGreymon: "I'm not sure what happened... When Leomon started to glow, a beam of light from him hit me, caused me to Digivolve..."

The black Agumon stared at his right arm, turning it around and around, before quietly continuing: "This form... it looks familiar... I remember someone that looked like this, only orange... I was looking for a heart... I was larger and more powerful, but I didn't know what my purpose was, why I existed. I was... out of control... destructive. He helped me find a heart, and now I look like him. Why is that?"

Kari chuckled and smiled a knowing smile. "I think you need to come with us. There'll be someone you'll want to meet again."

The black Agumon looked up briefly with doubt, but then he smiled and nodded with consent. "Lead the way." he said, still looking shyly away.

Kari smiled and lead the black Agumon over to where Ken was conversing with T.K. about the crystals...

Ken was holding out the captured green crystals in the palm of his right hand. He commented: "These don't seem to be like anything else either on Earth or in the Digital World. The only thing I can think of that these crystals might be related to is the dimension we battled MaloMyotismon in. Since they don't seem to be harming anything now, I'll take 'em back and Izzy and I will study them more."

"And the note?" T.K. asked.

"Definitely shows the intruders we fought to be Ankokuwa agents. They probably weren't real humans, but manifestations of some kind of data gathering program, probably to find and capture Digimon data."

"Either way, it still means no good. Giman and his army are still active somewhere, and what's to stop him from sending out another agent program?"

"He may need to build a new program from scratch if we destroyed the old one. It may also have something to do with the crystals. If we remove the crystals, we can probably prevent this from happening again."

"All right, it'll have to do for now."

"Hey, who's with Kari and Gatomon?" Patamon exclaimed. He had been hovering beside T.K. while the conversation was going on and now noticed Kari approaching with the black Agumon.

Ken turned to see what Patamon was talking about, then said with surprise, "Is that the Digimon I think it is?"

"If you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking, then I think it is."T.K. stated with just as much surprise.

"Hey guys, where's Izzy?" Kari asked them as she stopped beside the boys.

"Izzy's over there with Gennai, talking about SetoLeomon I think." T.K. replied, pointing in the direction of the tight circle of admiring Digimon around the newly-Digivolved Mega. "Was that the...?"

"Yes, it was the black Koromon. He somehow must have gotten a bit of the released power when Leomon Warp-Digivolved, and it was enough to Digivolve him."

"I'll say." an impressed Ken commented.

"I was planning to taking him to see Tai and Agumon, since the Digivolution seems to have jogged his memory a bit. But we need to find Datirimon first..."

"Gennai has him. We found him in the crowd while you were looking over the intruders and then took him to Gennai. He's gonna take him back to his house for the time being."

"All right, let's go get Izzy then." Kari stated. The 3 Digidestined and their partners, plus the black Agumon, went over to the crowd surrounding SetoLeomon.

* * *

SetoLeomon was looking both his new form and the crowd around him with great curiosity. "It seems to have worked better than I thought it would." he heard Gennai say.

"Yes, all the more reason to protect it." SetoLeomon replied. "Something which I am now more than willing to do."

"You are serious about that?"

"Of course. If I am staying this way, I am obliged to protect things that can give such power."

Gennai almost laughed out loud. "All right then, I'll show you the nearest tree." he stated, starting away across the desert. SetoLeomon quickly took off after him, seeming to relish the freedom of flight. The crowd around slowly began to disperse, and Izzy was finally drawn away from attention long enough to notice his fellow DigiDestined approaching.

"Gennai's leading SetoLeomon to the nearest Tree of Light. SetoLeomon is going to guard it now." Izzy eagerly stated to the approaching group.

"Yes we saw them leave. Quite a surprise that thing is..." T.K. stated.

"I could say the same about the black Agumon you have with you. You aren't trying to replace Tai's, are you?" Izzy replied to the group, being only half-serious in the second sentence.

"No, just to meet him, jog some memories." Kari assuredly stated.

"All right then, let's get going. We shouldn't be late for supper."

"Agreed. Everything is good here, let's get home!"

The group started back toward Gennai's house, hoping from there to find a Digiport to get back home in time for supper...

**The harvester program of Giman's has been rebuffed, but will it prove to be only a temporary setback? Find out in the upcoming DDLA Episode 3 "Bug Spray!"**


End file.
